


you and i could have a threesome with the ghost of our dead mother

by misura



Category: Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Genre: Incest, M/M, Past Balem Abrasax/Seraphi Abrasax
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-04-08
Packaged: 2018-10-16 09:41:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10568670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: "You're thinking of her, aren't you?" Balem asks.





	

Balem is predictable as always - a little pain mixed with a little pleasure and a rather crude display of physical dominance that ends with Titus on his knees. _Sans_ clothes, Titus imagines that the scene is not without its appeal, although he rather doubts that Balem would have arranged for an audience. In his own way, Balem is almost shy about these sorts of things, as if sex should be a private, personal thing. (A ridiculous, old-fashioned notion.)

"What would Mother think, if she saw you now?" It's less a question, more Balem, being Balem.

_That she saved the best for last, perhaps?_ Titus has no illusions about being their mother's favorite, but he's found it useful to learn to please. _That you're wasting a lot of time listening to the sound of your own voice?_ Not a criticism applicable only to the current situation, of course.

"You're thinking of her, aren't you?" Balem asks.

Titus looks up at him. Like all sons of the House of Abrasax, Balem is well-made. Titus flatters himself that his is the better-proportioned body, the one that shows it's being properly cared for by its inhabitant. Balem scoffs at most physical activities - which doesn't keep him from indulging every now and then, of course.

Still, Titus is fairly sure the sex is incidental. Means to an end.

It's what makes the whole thing actually fun, what keeps him coming back for more, even if Balem isn't precisely the universe's greatest partner. He's too caught in his own thoughts, too inconsiderate of other people's pleasure. Not even a little bit adventurous.

"Aren't you?" Balem can be loud, when he wants to. Which is usually when there's no real need to be.

"If you must know, I wasn't." Titus shrugs. "It would hardly be polite, given the circumstances, don't you agree? Why, were _you_ thinking of her?"

_I would have bet good money that you were._ Titus is fairly sure that of all her children, Balem is the only one capable of genuinely loving the woman who has so generously gifted them life.

Kalique is too much like her mother to allow herself such sentimentality, whereas Titus himself - well.

One must be practical about these matters. "Do you imagine her in my place?" Titus asks. "Do you imagine that you might get her to board your ship under false pretenses, lure her away from her guards, overpower her the way you overpowered me?"

"False pretenses?" Balem scoffs. "You make poor deals, brother. Someone needs to look out for the family fortune. The family name."

"Ah, and so a naked scolding is to be my punishment?"

"I'll take one of your planets. Seeing as how you act so irresponsibly with them yourself," Balem says. He seems calmer, more in control now that they've strayed from She Who Must Not Be Named.

_Seraphi. Seraphi. Seraphi._ "Bold words." The family lawyers will never permit it, and Balem knows it. An excess of cunning and bribery would be required to change so much as a comma in the will. _Still ruling the roost, aren't you, mother dear? Laughing at us from the great beyond._

"I'd turn twice the profit you would, in half the time," Balem says.

Titus knows this is probably true. "Profits aren't everything. If that were so, what would be the point of _this_?" His knees are beginning to hurt. Titus's own quarters have padded floors, to ensure comfort at all times - unless, of course, one wishes for a little _dis_ comfort.

"All work and no play." Balem smiles.

Some might say that Titus is the opposite: all play and no work. Sadly for them, Titus outgrew the stage of his life where he might be susceptible to flattery centuries ago.

"How about: all talk and no action?"

"I will act when I am ready. Not before. You will wait when I tell you to wait."

Ah. The sweet voice of brotherly bossiness. Titus decides that enough is enough and gets up. Balem is taller by a few inches. "Of course. Anything to read or watch while I do so? A small snack, perhaps?"

Balem snarls. Titus chuckles, deliberately turning his back as he takes a few steps to the desk. Balem seems to persist in thinking that when you take away someone's clothes, it gives you some sort of power over them, that being naked makes people vulnerable somehow, weak and easier to dominate.

There have been months when Titus hasn't bothered to so much as put on pants. Or, well, not real ones. When speaking with the Aegis, one feels compelled to keep up certain appearances.

"I fail to find your insolence amusing, brother dear."

When Titus turns, he's not surprised to see Balem hasn't moved. Posturing is all very well, but actual violence is not on the menu. Titus suspects that Balem would consider it beneath him.

"Pity. They do say a sense of humor is a great asset in our line of life." The desk is nice and solid behind him but also wholly utilitarian. Titus regretfully moves away from it, edging towards the sleeping area instead. He can hardly hope for comfortable, soft surfaces there, but it will be better than nothing. "Don't you think so? Mother used to tell the most wonderful jokes."

_Well, not to me, but surely she told jokes to_ someone _and, being Seraphi Abrasax, surely they laughed and told her that they were wonderful._

"She did." Balem looks slightly misty-eyed. Titus manages not to wince.

There are times when talking to Balem is like dealing with the justice system. They keep coming back to that one topic you thought you'd been done with five months, two weeks and several days ago.

On the other hand, "Did she make you laugh?" Titus doesn't think he's ever heard Balem laugh. In truth, he's always assumed Balem's vocal cords aren't capable of producing that sort of sound.

Balem looks away. Titus reads the gesture as one indicating uncertainty, insecurity. It might very well be a trap, although at this stage of the game, it's a little late for that.

Perhaps it simply is what it is: Balem, being weird about the memory of their unlamented progenitor.

Titus decides to take a chance. "Did she make you moan?"

Balem's head snaps back to glare at him. Not for the first time, Titus marvels at the existence of someone who has lived so long and yet controls his emotions so little.

"Did she make you scream?" Balem's face displays the most wonderful expressions when his guard is down, when he's not being the cool-headed businessman, cynical and practical. "You must tell me if there was something she did that you liked particularly well."

"You are unworthy to even speak her name."

Titus wonders what it says about Balem that he never mentions her by name, either. Some residual guilt, perhaps? She _was_ murdered, after all, and with Balem on the same planet.

"I hardly think she knew you as well as I do. As intimately." Any obsession was strictly on Balem's side, Titus knows. It's what inspires him to sometimes feel just a little bit sorry for Balem.

Unrequited love is such a terribly impractical, hopeless thing. It leaves someone vulnerable to all sorts of attacks.

"You know nothing," Balem whispers.

"I know she didn't have one of these," Titus says. Balem's body is skinny, not pliant against his, but not resisting either. It's simply there, the way Balem is. "Being, after all, a woman."

Balem chuckles. Titus slightly adjusts his mental image of their mother. He wonders what happened to her toys after her death, if Kalique was wasteful enough to have them all destroyed. It doesn't seem like her, somehow.

Something to pursue more fully on another occasion.

"I do believe hers was a bit bigger," Balem says. "And she was definitely more skilled at handling it."

"That almost sounds like a challenge." Or a complaint, but Titus isn't here to compete against the memory of the dead. He's too smart for that.

"Mere fact." Balem sounds a little bored and a little amused. He's a terrible actor.

Titus considers leaving. Balem would let him - for a few days, at least. It might be interesting, to see how far he can push Balem, how emotional Balem will get when they reach this point again, one, two weeks from now.

On the other hand, anticipation is all very well, but Titus rather doubts Balem can offer him anything worth waiting that long for. And Titus is a busy man - things to meet, people to do.

It doesn't even take much: he leans forwards a little, shifting his weight. Whispers, "Kneel," noting the way Balem's body shivers at the word, like he wants and fears what is next at the same time.

As a rule, Titus prefers his partners enthusiastic, but the fact that it's Balem seems to override his usual preferences. There's something very nearly irresistable about Balem's conflicting emotions, about knowing that Balem both wants and doesn't want this.

Perhaps, Titus reflects wryly, Balem isn't the only sentimentalist in the family after all.


End file.
